[Mustang_Boss]

I am perfectly fine with this, the day when:
- 2 Wheeler riders stick to their lines on regular roads.
- Holding phone on their neck and riding cancels one's licence.
- Wrong doers are punished with strict fines and licence cancellations.

Without any of the framework in place, i strictly am against allowing 2 wheelers on express ways.


What i observed in reality is:
- People just stay on the right lane, in lanes without divider. Leaving the opposite driver (car) no place to even move forward. When turning right, one must be to left as much as they can, unless in a 4 way Junction, where one needs to be in the right.
- Police catch only the expensive bikes for challans. They dont want to catch the lower class bikes.
- The lower CC class, which are often less maintained looks wise are just let go and are not even considered by cops.
- Those who drive a 3 wheeler and a 2 wheeler are the worst of the lot. They just cant abide by any road laws.
- The expensive bike owners, who ride extremely neat, who are above 30's and abide by the road rules strictly, and have worked hard & earned their ride.
- The law breaking group who ride expensive bikes, just got their expensive ride from the proceeds of a real estate deal or their parents, who have no empathy towards fellow riders and are willing to break as many laws as they can.

Why such bad behavior by fellow riders?
- Lack of proper training/evaluation. Ease in procuring a licence.
- Governance not interested in training. But more interested in extorting.
- Lack of fiscal penality.

Why such biased behavior by Law enforcers?
Often, They have fiscal targets to meet and they want to catch and penalize high value automobile riders.


Where do we stand as we speak?
- I got to know that my state is collecting around 4000 crores in challans from drivers.
- Government is targeting higher (~15%) value the next year.
- The administration is interested in increasing its collections, which is possible if and only if, the people are provided with easy licences and less education.


What should we be doing?
- Spend 30% of the total collected amount in a year on advertising on how to ride/drive, how should one proceed in junctions, etc. Like how we have advertised for Helmets rule.
- Spend 40% on procuring land and building parking lots for 2/4 wheelers.
- The rest is up to the administrations wish, on where to spend it on.


In summary,
Unless the governance interests match with the riders interests & safety, they shouldn't be allowed on high speed roads.

[Mik]

Can't vote as i see no reason why two wheelers shouldn't be allowed on expressways. If anything, i think they should also be paying tolls.
As the country seems to be focused on multiple greenfield expressways, these will soon become mainstay corridors for movement. Just excluding a major section of society is simply discriminatory.
I don't buy the 'slow' argument. Trucks are slower. As far as wheelie-heads go - well a few rotten examples abound everywhere. No class of vehicle drivers can really be singled out for being 'unruly'. The cars and trucks on the expressways have their own set of speed junkies who couldn't be bothered to stick to lanes, wear seat-belts or use their mirrors.
All we need are speed cameras working properly to challan the idiots.
Same goes with a two wheeler being 'unstable' and 'risky'. Just look around, you are surrounded by them everywhere in every city and regular highway. What makes the expressway different. If anything, its safer since there aren't too many cows, jaywalkers and wrong turners on these expressways.
Personally, i had a nightmarish experience while crossing hyderabad as i was forced into the city since i couldn't take the largely empty ring road to bypass it.

[warrioraks]

Originally Posted by Added_flavor

Wrong question to ask in a predominantly 4-wheeler forum. Only big bike owners hauling multiple-day luggage know the pain of navigating in city traffic or densely populated highways, while they witness rickety old Altos and Indicas that can't cross 60 kmph take the expressways.

Thank you for stating this obvious but overlooked fact.

Let me go against the tide here and share my 2 cents. I do not get the rationale of banning 2 wheelers from highways/expressways in the name of safety. If safety was the only criteria for allowing things on road, why not ban cycles from city main roads? Why allow cars with unstable structure to ply on roads? What if tomorrow people with 5 star rated cars demand zero and one star rated cars to be disallowed on expressways in the name of safety? Would the general sentiment then be to support this move or ridicule it?

My personal experience is that highways are safer for everyone (including 2 wheelers) because of better infrastructure, lesser vehicular density and more attention from drivers/riders because of higher speeds. Not to forget that our cities are expanding rapidly and a lot of highways/expressways practically are within city limits and used by people for their daily commute (read: make a living).

I will just wrap this rant with a small analogy. Just because an air crash makes a more impactful headline does not mean that flying is unsafe. Same way highway accidents make sensational news items and create an impression of these roadways being agents of death. The reality might be far from it. It is hightime to say goodbye to stupid rules like these which are borderline discriminatory and elitist.

[Gansan]

The poll should include the option "any two wheeler capable of doing the highway speed limit". The cc,bhp etc don't matter.

If anyone staying well below highway speed limit is wrong, someone staying well above it is also wrong. We regularly see what speed some cars are doing on the highways.

[Shanmd]

The inherent assumption of having a toll to expressways is to have access to the facilities provided to navigate a distance.. peacefully away from all kinds of "Riff-raff". So a person driving a second hand Wagon R at 130kmph(or whatever max it goes at) has the blind right to have paid access to this facility. Fair enough.
Maximum bikes and riders are daily commuting one. They don't wear any protection while riding, neither do they follow any known written rules in the city or outside. This too is the general assumption. The ones who are riding for the love of it, and not because they need the bike to earn a living via commuting are stuck in the grey zone.
Expecting the tollbooth staff to be bike nerds and recognise cc and bhp.. is expecting the moon in our third world country.
Imo bikes should be allowed on the expressways. And to keep away the "riff-raff", charge them double or triple the car charges. This should be a filter enough as if I own a bike that's as expensive as a mid sized SUV.. I can damn well afford this. And there are cops regulating the speed limits anyways.. to catch the ones not maintaining it, as effectively as they are doing this currently to the cars and trucks plying on such expressways.
I anyways see splendours and pulsars belonging to the staff going in the opposite direction (always) on the Bom-Pune expressway.. that too with no DLRs, or even headlights on.

[IshaanIan]

In principle, obviously 2 wheelers and anything else that is being taxed and registered ought to be able to ply on expressways. That said we need to quit thinking about these topics in as rudimentary terms as engine displacement or power output (we really ought to quit taxing vehicles on those basis as well). Instead we ought to focus on power-to-weight ratio and slowly but surely ensure that every vehicle that is produced, taxed and registered, be able to get out of its own way be it a two wheeler or a lorry there must be some minimum power to weight ratio requirements set.

[locusjag]

Voted for outright ban on 2 wheelers on highways.

Even high-powered premium 2 wheelers are prone to accidents and in fact all 2 wheelers are highly unforgiving, dangerous instruments that are better kept off of our highways.

I've closely followed a college senior of mine who used to ride a RE Thunderbird throughout India. He racked up 1 lac Kms in a mere 3 to 4 years by going on these well-planned pan-India trips and he was a part of multiple rider associations/clubs.

Aside from the regular trip pics he used to upload on FB, a stable update I used to get from him was death condolences for riders of the clubs that he used to belonged to. I've seen deaths of riders astride expensive Ducatis, BMWs, Kawasakis and the deaths of riders astride Royal Enfields, TVS bikes...I've seen enough. All these riders had been hit by cars, trucks or buses out on our National Highways. One of them was fatally struck so hard by an Innova that he was flung off of a major national highway, from a railway overpass onto the train tracks below.

And my college senior himself has long since given up on biking. He drives all over India by car now.

Enough said.

[kannan666]

Although I have voted 'yes' for bike capacity of 350cc and above in principle, practically this will be very difficult to monitor. Moreover, classification by CC alone will not be enough but I feel sorry for the genuine long distance bike rider.

[anjan_c2007]

I too take this opportunity to go against the tide. Though many of us have 1, 2, 3 or 3 plus cars including me, I do not find my view/s highlighted anywhere in the poll choices.

Yes expressways are really dangerous for two wheelers and in many of these incl the Mumbai-Pune expressway they are banned.

My views expressed below are related to some feedbacks here seeking a ban on two wheelers on multi lane highways.

Basically, we need to understand that nearly 80% of our population lives below the poverty line. Many (incl daily wagers) from among this 80% could be two wheeler owners. And from among the rest 20% comprising the lower, middle, upper middle and also upper classes, many own two wheelers with technical specifications of various hues. The number of two wheeler owners among all sections of our society is many, many times the total number of four wheeler owners, just going by the sales figures. And many of them use these for their intracity as well as intercity commutes. We cannot ban the movements of a majority of our population, citing safety issues and so on. Besides these factors, we also need to know that our public transport system in most parts of the country is dismally poor. Hence, whenever driving on highways, we see multiple two wheelers doing intercity commutes as a preferable mode. Many of them break traffic rules but what is the highway police doing to check the errants?

For safe passage of two wheelers, there needs to be earmarked lanes fully dedicated to their movements on such intercity, multi lane roads. And any transgressions from these to the four wheeler lanes and vice versa need to be subject to severe penalties. A second or third offence should result in suspension of the driving licence for such errant drivers.

An off topic para that is relevant to India here.
India is not a developed economy and the numerous rules applicable in the West do not necessarily fit in here. Developed economies of the West that include the worst polluters, after creating huge carbon footprints since the past more than 100 years, are now crying hoarse. They are asking every country to ban coal fired power generation plants to contain obnoxious emissions that can in turn help minimise and contain climate change. But the Indian stand on this issue is to sustain our coal based power generation, while progressively and simultaneously augmenting newer, renewable resources to generate power. Since we have proven thermal grade coal deposits to last us 200 plus years and since coal is affordable, India has still stuck to coal, which is a bold and India specific stand.

Back to the topic, we have to be India specific while dealing with issues and we cannot just afford to take any knee jerk reactions that later manifest as decisions, where huge sections of the population are concerned and involved.

[shankar.balan]

Draconian Laws and Rules will never solve anything permanently. We need to change basic attitudes to rules and regulations and enforce them. This argues zero corruption and first class and honest implementation.

One might as well be in Utopia. This is India and hence it will take a lot of time.

It is true that the large majority of Indians rely on their two wheelers as their primary transport and to earn their living.

We on this forum ought not to be acting like Nero’s guests in this aspect, however much we love our cars and the ability to maintain a certain spanking pace on the road and however much we also tout safety.

I do wish that as a first step, we are able to collectively appreciate as a Nation, the value of simple ‘lane discipline’. That single thing, in one fell swoop, will change our lives.

I don't find any of the options above worthy of a vote. Thats that.

[karthikg87]

Originally Posted by Added_flavor

In addition, what's more irritating is the fact that rules are not made based on logic, but are knee-jerk reactions to incidents. Take the example of Hyderabad ORR. Access to two-wheelers was banned only after a famous cricketer's son died in an accident there!.

Absolutely misleading and incorrect information . Two wheelers have always been banned on ORR service since its inauguration in 2008. All the accidents you hear of are illegal access by two wheelers. One of my friends had an accident there because of a 2 wheeler riding in the opp direction.

[RRM]

NO 2W in EW

In the normal daily traffic itself one doesn’t follow speed limit, imagine a well laid wide open road! The temptations will be very high and hence the casualties.

Noticed multiple times on my drive between Bangalore-Kerala route, the speed with which the high end bikes or even Scooty/activa is driven, I am always worried. A small stone in enough to end the story for lifetime

[ph03n!x]

No two wheelers in expressways please!

While there are a lot of safe riders who gear-up, ride responsibly and defensively, indicate, maintain lanes, etc., they are reduced to a miniscule minority by the number of senseless jerks on our roads.

Be it larger engines, superbikes, this majority is armed with all ammunition to make roads dangerous for themselves and everyone else. What's more alarming, there are idiots and maniacs driving four-wheelers on suicidal missions on our roads too - and in case of a collision, surviving a collision between two four-wheelers at expressway speeds has a better probability.


There is no way to filter them out except saying "No two/ there-wheelers in Expressways" until the system improves, driving licenses are scientifically issued, and expressway infra is more idiot-proof.

Until then, though I'm personally affected, I don't want to ask for riding on expressways.

[GeeTee TSI]

Voted for prohibition of 2W on controlled access expressways

In my (biased) view I feel safer and more relaxed driving my car on roads with limited 2W/3W and it is only in these access controlled expressways where this condition exists. I am unable to think of any scientific reason to limit 2W as factors related to safety gear and minimum speeds aren't that difficult to enforce

If one has to draw parallels with developed countries, how are motorcycles treated there?

[Ritkon]

2-wheelers should be allowed on expressways, regardless of power output and/ or displacement.

First of all, it is wrong to categorise bikers as law breaking hoodlums, not following lane discipline and riding rickety machines. There are far more cars and trucks on e-ways which fall into this category, than bikes.

Second, it is wrong to assume bikers do not adhere to safety rules. Most bikes on e-ways do adhere to the safety protocol of wearing helmets. On the other hand, rarely any rear seat passenger in a car ever wears one.

Third, it is very wrong to assume bikes are unstable. Yes, they are inherently unbalanced, but many modern bikes are much more stable and planted at high speeds than most budget hatchbacks.

All bikers have a much better view of the road than any car driver, with virtually zero blind spots. This means, if any vehicle is approaching dangerously from behind or sideways, a biker will be able to spot it much earlier and react. This gives them a bit of upper hand in terms of safety.

Also, most bikes are perfectly capable of cruising at good speeds, keeping up with the cars and trucks on our e-ways and have a better power to weight ratio than most budget cars.

I conclude by saying there are bad drivers out there for all kinds of vehicles. To ban a category of vehicle, assuming their drivers are all bad, is wrong. There are far more dangerous things on our e-ways like cattles, tractors, unmarked crossings, poor lighting etc. to be worried about, rather than bikes.